The invention relates to a reference source for producing a current which is independent of temperature. More particularly the present invention relates to such a reference source which is made up of two parallel-connected current branches containing diodes and supplied by a constant current source, with one of these current branches containing a transistor, at the collector-emitter path of which the output voltage decreases for a transistor circuit which is connected at the output side of the reference source, and the current, which is independent of temperature, flows through the transistor circuit.
Temperature compensating d.c. voltage reference sources are already known comprising two parallel-connected current branches which contain diodes and transistors. In the known circuit a temperature compensating differential voltage is produced at the ends of a diode chain, with this differential voltage decreasing along the collector-emitter path of a transistor.